Alright, anyone up for a quick anatomy and physiology lesson
this fine Friday? I promise I’ll keep it short and simple. Today we
will learn about taste and smell and how they are affected by the
aging process. I’ve never been much of a science buff, so here is
my interpretation of how it all works.
Alright, anyone up for a quick anatomy and physiology lesson this fine Friday? I promise I’ll keep it short and simple. Today we will learn about taste and smell and how they are affected by the aging process. I’ve never been much of a science buff, so here is my interpretation of how it all works.
Imagine that your body is a town. The central nervous system is comprised of your brain, the “post office” and your spine, “Main Street.” Off of Main Street is your peripheral nervous system, a “grid” of streets linking many neighborhoods together. Each limb and each organ is a specific “neighborhood” within town limits. Each neighborhood has billions of receptors or “houses” and each house has a neuron or a “mailbox.”
The post office is responsible for delivering trillions of “letters” to each mailbox every day – instructions informing residents how to operate within their homes, their neighborhoods and within town limits.
Each resident replies to the post office with updates and this ongoing correspondence encourages everyone to work together. Our senses of smell and taste offer an excellent example; they work in harmony and allow us to enjoy our food.
Smell and taste “co-write” letters to the post office. Their letters are delivered to the perception department, each letter is interpreted as a specific odor that in turn generates a response letter called flavor. This whole process happens in less than a second and can even trigger a flood of memories.
As we age, our entire town, including the post office, begins to experience a series of small “budget cuts” and all of the neighborhoods are affected. The numbers of smell receptors and taste receptors begin to dwindle between the ages of 50 and 70.
Not as many mailboxes means not a lot of mail. Flavor responses from the brain are no longer generated by smell and taste’s dual letter writing efforts. Eventually our food becomes bland or bitter.
In a book entitled “Gerontological Nursing: Competencies for Care,” editor and author Kristen Mauk aims to improve the lives of the elderly through education. A former professor of mine, Dr. Leilani Feliciano, and her associates contributed.
They explain that by the late 70s, a person’s ability to taste declines to one-sixth of what it was in the person’s 20s. Around age 80, the sense of smell is half of what it once was.
So, what does all of this mean for our elders and how can we help?
Poor nutrition, poor health. If food loses its flavor, is there any joy in eating? Feliciano notes that some elders will eat more in an effort to try to taste something (anything) and that some elders will eat less due to a loss of appetite and interest.
She also notes that some elders may use increasing amounts of salt or sugar in an effort to give food some flavor. This, she says, can complicate medical conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
She and her colleagues suggest that caregivers present food in an attractive manor in an effort to increase appetite. This may increase the elder’s motivation to eat. They say that food should be separated on the plate to facilitate visual identification.
Janet Belsky, author of “The Psychology of Aging,” suggests that caregivers try to amplify the odor of the food they are serving.
Can you think of other suggestions to enhance the flavor of food? E-mail me and share your ideas.
You should be aware of some safety issues. Belsky tells us that our sense of smell does much more than help us enjoy our food. Our sense of smell also serves as an early warning system alerting us to hazards such as fire or leaking gas.
With this in mind, It is really important for all of us to check fire alarms and gas leak detectors regularly at our own homes and at the homes of our elderly friends and family members.
Feliciano and associates remind us that the decreased ability to detect other smells, like spoiled food, can lead to illnesses including food poisoning.
I suggest that if caregivers are making food for elders to enjoy at home, they should use labels (preferably large ones with big, bold print) that indicate the date the food was made and the date it should be thrown out. This goes for frozen dishes too.
Other issues may include elders becoming less aware of personal hygiene when their sense of smell is decreased.
Additionally, losing an established and sentimental smell memory (i.e. the smell of grass, baby lotion, a grandparents’ attic or of a loved one) has been known to cause feelings of depression.
